Do you love to travel? Do you need an excuse to jet around the world? Are you having a hard time fitting a semester abroad into your budget? Maybe you should consider an internship abroad. Interning abroad is an opportunity for you to gain the same experience study abroad has to offer, except you’re getting real experience.

Studying abroad can be very costly, sometimes even exceeding the amount of your tuition. However, pretty much all of the students that have come back said it was the best experience of their life.

An internship abroad is very similar to a study abroad program in that it provides a way for you gain cultural understanding of your host city while also gaining real work experience. Not to mention the price difference is quite favorable. Whether the internship is paid or you’re able to get financial help from your school, it’s a more cost-effective way to spend time overseas than taking classes.

The logistics for interning abroad are almost the same as a study program because many internships you find abroad are part of an intern program. They assist you with the whole “going abroad” process. Many of the programs include internship placement and supervision, housing, meal plans (occasionally), financial aid counseling, and sometimes language training. Instead of getting credits that may not transfer, you get this loaded experience to put on your resume! Think about it….

You may be working hard studying to get a degree, you may have proven your smarts, but do you know what it’s like to work in a real IT position? Hiring managers will get plenty of applicants with the same qualifications as you. The key to getting an IT job is to get some hands-on experience with an IT internship.

Many major companies, such as the Vanguard Group, will take on small groups of interns to show them the ropes. These internship duties do not require grunt work like getting food and coffee. From day one you will get hands on experience. The senior HR manager Dawn Lindberg says, “Our internship program is highly structured. The group comes in as a class. They work together, network together, and present a class project in addition to their other assignments – programming, hardware, Web services or another technical area – from their supervisors. We involve students in the actual day-to-day duties of their department.”

The interviewing process is much like interviewing for a job. It’s yet another benefit to exploring internships — you’re getting practice with the procedures you’ll want to be comfortable with by the time you’re job-hunting.

Specifically for an IT internship, answer questions honestly. If you cannot answer technical questions that you have already claimed to have known, why would the hiring manager want to consider you? If you are up front about the skills you possess, companies know that you are looking to be an intern and know you will learn more through this experience. An awareness of what you know and recognizing what you don’t is good at this stage. Internships are meant to learning experiences, so don’t feel like you need to speak in 1′s and 0′s.

Be sure to show that you are eager to learn, because technology never stops changing. Programming languages some and go, so try to keep an open mind and avoid getting bogged down in learning just systems, or just networking, or just C+, PHP, MySQL, Ruby, etc. An internship is about dipping your toe in the water, not diving head-over-heels into a super-niche skill set.

One of the best things you can do, not only as a student but for the rest of your career, is contribute to open-source projects to hone your skills and add to your resume. Check out SourceForge for a list of open-source projects you can contribute to.

A few years back Anya Kamenetz wrote a disparaging article for the New York Times about the portrayal of internships and their ineffectiveness among students. Her reference to interns being equivalent to illegal immigrants makes it seem like interns only do menial work for menial pay, if they’re paid anything at all, and that an internship experience isn’t what the real world is about. This 2006 article may have been relevant in those times, but these days, internships DO matter. In fact, internships matter more now than ever.

The first point Kamenetz makes is that internships are only simulations to what a real job would entail. Not true.

Interns are no longer considered lowly servants who run around and get food and coffee — at least in most instances. Many companies now look to place their interns in positions where they are involved with the company and getting hands-on experience with projects.

As an advertising major, if I were to go to an ad firm with my resume and they saw host, nanny, and swim coach, I’m pretty sure they would laugh in my face. Being immersed in an environment related to your field of interest where you can learn the protocol intrigues employers. Experience does matter!

Many colleges are in fact making internships a graduation requirement. This is a benefit for you, the student, not the school. With an internship you can see what sort of work your major entails, and you can actually get some experience with that work.

Finding an internship may be a daunting process.

Many students put it off for as long as they can, even when they have the help of a career service adviser. That’s because you either have no clue where to start, or are overloaded with emails about all of the internships opportunities you could be interested in. How do you know which internship would be right for you?

Finding an internship that isn’t the coffee-fetching nightmare Kamenetz describes is tough. Do companies take advantage to students seeking internships? Sure. But that’s why InternInc.com is building out ratings and tools to ensure both students and employers are getting feedback. If a company has a track record to abusing the internship experience, students can warn others to avoid internships with that company.

Similarly, students should be accountable for the work they do. Just because an internship isn’t paid, doesn’t mean students can or should just coast through the experience so they can slap a big name on their resume.

What do you think? Have you had a great internship that really helped you out later? Have you had a nightmare internship? Let us know! Drop a comment here or DM us @internink or @interninc on Twitter!

Are you a recent college grad struggling to find a job? It may not be the glitz and glam you imagined, and it may not even be paid, but an internship is a great way to test the waters and land the job of your dreams.

Do you feel like after you graduate, you’re supposed to have your life planned out?

Well, times have changed and most grads don’t even follow the path of their majors. You may not know what you really want to do with your life, and that’s okay. An internship is a great way to explore your options.

But what exactly does it take to get hired? First, you need to do some research to find the right internship:

-Who is the employer? What kind of opportunities do they have? Could you see yourself working for them?

-What kind of work do they want you to do?

-Is is challenging enough for you to learn from, or will you be filing papers all day?

-Is the internship paid? Unpaid? If it’s unpaid, can you get a travel stipend?

You will obviously need to make sure it fits your interests, but also be sure to review their hiring track record. Talk to previous interns or the company’s human resource department to inquire about their hiring policy.

Big or small: Choosing the right size company

Depending on your field, you may find yourself trying to decide between a big company and a small one. Big name corporations will be less likely to hire you, but having their name on your resume may be good for your experience, or at least make for great window dressing. If you’re looking to get a job immediately, a smaller company may be a better way to jump-start your career.

Come into your internship willing to exceed standards, and if you don’t know what your internship expects from you, figure this out up front. Contribute your own ideas if you have them, this is not the time to be shy. Be proactive with your work. Take the initiative to learn programs on your own, beat the deadlines, and ask for extra work (only if you have finished your assignments). The goal is to take as much from the experience as you can.

Done with your internship? Ask about a job!

Apart from an in-house job, internships offer many networking opportunities that can help lead to a full-time position. After you’ve spent time with your company, don’t be afraid to ask your boss or mentor what your future looks like with them. Set up a meeting, let them know that you have enjoyed working with them, and ask what your chances are of getting a position with the organization.

College students with an uncommon major such as musicology, environmental design, or human and family development, may feel they have no access to what some may call a common internship. Rest assured that business and computer science students are not the only ones with decent internship opportunities. All it takes is a little digging. If you’re patient and put in the effort you’ll come to find that there’s a path into almost any industry, off the beaten path or not.

For example, if you are a theater major and have no clue where to begin, try looking into interning at a summer theater company. Stars from Broadway began by interning at New Jersey’s Surflight Theatre. Interns are hired for the summer, paid a stipend, and are provided with housing all while using this hands on experience as training; something you won’t see in class. You get the chance to work on stage and off doing technical work and acting, and some have had the opportunity to audition for productions. Being immersed in this kind of atmosphere gives you an upper hand when it comes time to dive into this industry.

Organic farming is a growing area of interest; however this is another field that is not referenced regularly. Whether you’re interested in the actual farming, sustainable resources, or just want a change of scenery, you can sign up on small farms across the country. Even if this direction won’t land you straight into your dream business career, it’s a chance to diversify your experiences, which can look great on your resume. Great internships aren’t always the obvious or standard internships. With a little digging you can find something unconventional, but extremely valuable.

Good internship possibilities await you! Especially in our current economic situation, it’s difficult for college students to find jobs after they graduate, and an internship is a valuable starting point even after graduation. Find something you are truly interested in. It may not be your dream, but it could take you to unimaginable places.

The virtues of internship experience are vast, but the recession is redoubling the value of experience. There’s no more resting on your laurels, just your accomplishments.

So if the solution to this problem is for you to find an internship, where do you begin your search?

Getting an internship can seem daunting. How do you go about finding one? How do you know which one fits? Will the internship count as credit towards my degree? These are all questions you should be asking yourself, and sometimes it’s hard to find the right answers.

Intern Inc. is working to simplify the process for you. Whether you’re looking for an internship in New York City or near your school, paid or unpaid, in industries ranging from consumer products like Nestle to tax and accounting with KPMG, we’re building a platform that makes the whole internship process simpler and better, from start to finish.

We are here to help you not only find an internship, but find you the right one. You may be getting an email overload from your career counselor with numerous internship opportunities, but do you know which ones to look through? Intern Inc. helps narrow your search by providing you with a list of opportunities that fit your needs based on your profile.

Our goal is help you build out a modern, Web 2.0 professional profile that goes beyond your paper resume. We want to simplify and clarify the problems facing a student seeking an internship. Join our site, let us know what you think and here’s to pulling the internship process into the modern age!